Following Christmas and New Years, there was a massive spike in COVID-19 cases. A countless amount of students were missing from classrooms and many employees called in sick from work. 

After COVID-19 cases in California reached an all time low in November averaging at 1,000 new cases everyday, the holidays caused a major outbreak with all of the celebrations that were going on. 

As of January 31st, the average number of new cases daily is 70,000 and the week’s average is at least 62,000 a day. San Bernardino County alone has faced 420,000 cases and 6,000 deaths. 

Many people after reading those statistics wonder how long COVID-19 will have a major effect on the world.

“All I can hope is that 2022 is much better than 2021 with everyone’s health,” said junior Hedi Sifuentes.

As of right now, no one really has an answer to that question. Many people say that the pandemic will not go on forever and it will eventually just be like a common flu. 

“Coronavirus will eventually become not as big of an issue as it is right now but it is something that will always exist,” Nurse Melissa Munoz said.

These new variants are proving to be much easier to spread. Some of these variants include Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and the most recent variant, Omicron. Omicron differs from other variants because all of the other variants include symptoms of lost smell and taste, while Omicron is closer to just the regular flu. Symptoms of Omicron are as common as a cough, fatigue, tiredness, congestion and runny nose.

The government is urging everyone to get vaccinated in hopes that 2022 will be much better than last year. In 2021, the United States had a total of 50 million cases of COVID-19 with 800,000 deaths. This caused a lot of people to lose family members and loved ones.

“COVID made me feel pretty alone for a while because I couldn’t see my friends and I lost my grandpa,” Sifuentes said.

In California alone, 66 percent of the population is vaccinated. Getting vaccinated will decrease the likelihood of contracting COVID-19. Though with all of these new variants, there are still a large number of people who are vaccinated and still end up with a positive COVID test. 

As far as what to expect next, there is no way to tell. All that people need to do is continue to stay safe and always wash your hands!